Sheet conveyer



June 7, 1927.

A. J. FREEMA N 'SHEET CONVEYER Filed March 18, v 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fly 1.

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.Z'NVENTOA A. J. FREEMAN SHEET CONVEYER Filed March 18. 1924 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June '7,

Y UNITEDMLSTA mm a. anemia, or Lambs, cunromwn.

Eras PATENT oFF1c'E.

slum-comm- Application ma limb is,

' photographic work, which embodies means or carrying sheets of material through several chemical solutions and water, submitting the sheets to the successive action of various chemical solutions for a predetermined length of time and automatically discharg ing the sheets from the machine.

A further object is to provide in a ma- ,chine of the above character, an endless sheet conveyer having numerous consecutlve sheet holders, to which at regular intervals, sheets may be fed successively'and continuously.

Another object is toprovide a simple and eflicient means for increasing the s d of travel of a sheet during the time it 1s beingdelivered to and withdrawn from a chemical solution and to control the relative length of time that a sheet remains in the various solutions. v

Another object is to supply simplle nieans for temporarily isolatin a sheet older to facilitate the loading of s eets into the holders, the transferring of sheets from one tank to another and the discharging of the sheets from'the machine.

the parts The invention further consists of and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan 'view of the inventionwith parts broken away, showin a sheetholder in position to receive a s cot, and other sheet holders, transferrin sheets from one tank to another, carrying s eets throu h the several tanks, draining sheets, andd1scharg'ng sheets from the machine. Fig. 2 is a cut elevation of the machine, part in section'on line 2-.-2 of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a detail section of a sheet holder and the sheet arging mechanism. Fig. 4;, is a side view in diagram of the solution tanks. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of a carrier 15. Fig. 7 6 is a section of oneof the drive sprockets.

1m. No. rooms.

In the drawings,JA represents a frame m which the various parts of my invention are mounted, this frame being dlsposed in' substantlally a horizontal. position as is here lllustrated. Situated adjacent to and around the frame A at various levels is a series of tanks 1234-56, adapted to hold various chemical solutions or water, particularl shown in diagram Fig. 4.

Mounte' in suitable hearings on the frame A are the sprockets 7 8 9 10 11, designed w1th groove teeth, as shown in Fig. 6 and adapted to ca and drive an endless flexible cable 12. he sprockets 7 and 8 are mountedon the top side of frame A and the sprockets 10 and 11 on the underside while the sprocket 9 is mounted at the outer end and on a horizontal lane half way between the sprockets 8 and 11. The sprockets 7 and 10 drive the cable 12 and are keyed to the shaft. 13 and continuously rotated er. rockets 8 9 ll'are idlers an are designed to carry and guide the cable 12 in its rescribed course. The sprockets are all deslgned with few teeth and a large pitch compared -w1th their diameter, the of w ich will be described later herein.

The cable 12 extends completely around the frame A and is designed to continuously travel on a helical-like course about the frame. Beginning at sprocket 7 the cable 12 extends horizontally across to and part way around sprocket 8, thence running. at a sli ht'angle downward to and approximately alf way around sprocket 9, continues at a downward angle to and part wa around sprocket 10, completing one helical like turn, it then extends. horizontally across -to and halfway around sprocket 11, then passing under guide roller 27 runs upward at an angle to and over guide roller 28 and back to sprocket 7 and the starting point, making a complete circuit. The path of cable 12 is here illustrated as making one helical like turn and returning to the starting point but it may consist of a number of helical or volute like turns and then return to the starting point to make a com lete circuit, the object of using a number 0 turns would be to inthrough a pulley 14 from any source of owhe sp urpose crease the capacity of the machine without increasing the floor-space occupied thereby;

The cable 12- is here illustrated as constructed of flexible material such as strand ed steel but it ma he a linked chain.

Mounted on ca le 12 at regular intervals throughout its entire length are the sheet carriers 15, formed with side members 15' through which the cable 12 passes, the holes therein being slightlvlarger than the cable. The carriers 15 with the arm .members 16 and sheet clips 17 are free to turn about the cable but have their longitudinal position fixed thereon by the collars 18 which are adapted to fit between the "members 15' and be securely fastened to. the cable as shown in Fi 5. The clips 17 are formed inthe shape 0 a U having two angular sides, the outer ends of which carry the overlapping jaws' 23, and the spring tension of' which normally exerts an outward pressure and holds the jaws closed to retain a. sheet .of material, The'jaws may be opened by exerting an inward pressure on the two sides of the clip. The dimensions of carriers 15,

and their spacing on cable 12, is designed to correspond with the pitch of sprockets 7 8 9 10 1 1 and enables them to serve as driving blocks for the cable. The carrier arms 16 are maintained in an approximatelyl horizontal position by the rail 19 on whic they ride and which extends approximately parallel to the cable 12 throughout the entlre course. The outer ends of arms 16 carrying sheet clips 17 extend into the tanks 1 2 3 4 5 6 and serve to carry sheets of material held in the clips through various so lutions that may be contained in the several tanks. The cable 12 follows the contour of the tanks in general but the track 19 and arms 16 follow the contour accurately, the weight of clips 17 holding the arms 16 against the track 19 at all points. The

. sheet clips 17 are free to turn about the arms 16 but have their longitudinal position fixed thereon by nuts 20. The clips 17 are constructe of spring material and are designed to receive and hold sheets of material by gripping them -near the edge and may be opened to release a sheet bypressing on either side as shown in Fig. 3. The clips 17 normally hang in a perpendicular position but when loaded with sheets and while being dragged through solutions in the tanks assume a slight angle as shown in Fig. 2, and when passing from one tank to another may be lifted to a horizontal po' sition. The clips 17 normally travel in a straight course but When they reach a sprocket their course of travel changesfrom a straight line to an arc and due to the comparatively lar e radius of their arcuate path their s eed 0 travel is considerably increased. T e entrances to and the exits from certain tanks are placed at these points to takeiadvantage of increase of' speed to quickly. deliver to and from the tanks. During t e time the clips are traveling in this circular course they are widely sep-" arated, this facilitates the attaching of sheets to the clips and permits the delivery of the'sheets to and from-certain tanks one 12 any clip and sheet may be withdrawn from the tanks at any point and separated from the preceding and succeeding clips and sheets for observation or removal by lifting the clips and turning the carrier 15 about the cable 12. This feature ofv the invention permits the carriers 15 to be compactly arranged and closely spaced oncable 12 to reduce the dimensions of the machine.

Mounted on the underside of tank '2, and directly opposite the sprocket'11,'is the sheet discharging mechanism consisting of the rollers 21 and.22 which are mounted one above the other and accurately spaced apart to permit the clips 17 to pass through but slightly pressing the sides together and opening the aws 23 releasing a sheet 24 shown in Figures 1 and 2 in which the sheet carrier 15 is about to enter tank 1 and is in position to' be loaded with a sheet of material while the preceding carrier has Hill just entered the'tank 1, others are passing though the tank, and one having reached the sprocket 8 is rapidly transferring a sheet from the tank 1 to the tank 2, while other carriers areconveying sheets through the tanks 3 4 5 6. After a carrier leaves the tank 6 it travels for a distance under the tank 1 and outside of any tank, the purpose here being to allow the surplus solutions or water to drain-from the sheet and clip,

after which it reaches the sprocket 11 and is carried through the discharge rollers 21' 22 which press the sides of. the clip and release the sheet held therein dropping it onto the belt 25 which is continuously in motion and carries the sheet from'the machine.

,While my invention'may be used for a number of purposes it is suited perfectly for the development, fixing and washing of cals or wash water.

photographic sheet prints and for this. purpose tank 1 may contain a developing solutionand tank 2 an acid rinse Water while tank 3 or tanks 3 and 4 may contain a hypo fixing bath and tanks 5 and 6 other chemi- For this purpose an ex-. posed sheet of photographic'paper may be attached to a ch while in motion, just before it enters t is tank 1 and it y will be quickly immersed andthen carried through the developing solution contained in the tank, then quickly transferred to tank 2 containing rinse water and from there carried into a hypo fixing solution containeddn tanks 3 and 4 and then through a wash water contained in tanks 5 and 6 and after leaving tank 6 the surplus water will be allowed to drain from the print whileit passes under tank 1 and it will be discharged from the machine onto a traveling belt which may I be canvas or other suitable material on which to dry hoto prints. The length of time during W ich the prints 'are being carried through thevarious tanks may be controlled by either altering the lengths of the tanks or by varying the speed of the pulley 14.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a sheet conveyerwhich may be operated continuously and to which sheets of material may be fed and which will carry the sheets into and through various solutions, drain-the surplus solution from the sheets and discharge machine. 7 1

I claim:

1. In a sheet conveyer a plurality of sheet holders, means for connecting said holders to form a chain, means for temporarily iso lating a sheet holder to facilitate the attaching of a sheet thereto and the discharging of asheet therefrom, mechanism for carrying and driving said chain of holders to conthe sheets from the vey sheets of material and means for discharging the sheets from the holders.

2. A sheet conveyer comprising a plurality of sheet holders, means for connecting said sheet holders to form a chain, mechanism for carrying and driving said chain of holders through a series of tanks, whereby sheets of material carried by said holders will be submitted to the action of the contents of said tanks and means for temporarily isolating and increasing the speed of travel of a sheet holder during the time it is entering a tank, leaving a tank and dischar ing a sheet. Y

3. n a sheet conveyer a train of sheet holders, means for carrying and driving said train over a course to receive and convey sheet material, means for temporarily in creasing the speed of travel of a sheet holder while traveling over certain ortions of said course, means for mounting t e sheet said trainon a course'a tankswhereby sheets of material carriedby said holders Will be submitted to the action of the contents of said tanks, means for increasing the distance between a holder and its preceding and succeeding holders during the time-it is entering a tank, leaving a tank and discharging a sheet. I 5. A sheet conveyer comprising a train of closely assembled sheet holders, means for temporarily increasing the space between a sheet holder and its preceding and suc-' ceeding holders, means for carrying, guiding and driving said train on a course adjacent a series of tanks whereby sheets carried by said trainwill be submitted to the actions of the contents of said tanks, means for changing the speel at which a holder travels while it is traveling over certain portions. of said course, means for controlling the relative lengths of time that a sheet is subject to the actions of the contents of the tanks.

' -6. A sheet conveyer comprising a train of sheet holders, means for carrying and driving said train on a circuitous course adjacent a series of tanks so that sheets acent a series of carried in said holders will be conveyed to,

through and from the tanks, means for transferring sheets from one tank into another, means for controlling the relative lengths of time that a sheet remains in the different tanks of the series, means for increasing the speed of travel of a sheetholder while it is traveling over certain portions of said course without increasing the general speed of the train over other portions of the course and means for the continuoussuccessive delivery of sheets to and from the tanks.

7. A sheet conveyer comprising a' plurality or closely assembled sheet holders, means for carrylng and driving said holders over a circuitous course having both straight and arcular sections adjacent a series of tanks, so thatsheets of material carried by said holders will be submitted to the actions of the contents of the tanks, means for isolating and increasing the speed of travel of a sheet holder .as it approaches and enters a tank then reducing itsspeed and reassembling it with the other holders while it is passing through the tank and again incre'as-' ing its speed of travel and isolating it as it leaves the tank, so as to quickly immerse a sheet in the contents of a tank, allow the sheet to remain in the tank for a time and then quickly withdraw the sheet from the tank, means for isolating a sheet'holder to discharge a sheet, means to discharge the ill sheet and means for effecting the continuous successive travel and operation of the sheet holders over the said course.

8. A sheet conveyer comprising a train a of closely assembled sheet holders mounted on a common carrier, means for guiding and driving said carrier and train on a course adjacent a series of tanks whereby sheets .of material carried by said holders will be submitted to the actions of the contents of said tanks, means for mounting said holders whereby a holder may be isolated from the train at any point on said course to allow the attaching of a sheet thereto or the detaching of a sheet therefrom or the examination of a sheet held thereby or the removal of a sheet from the tanks.

9. A sheet conveyer com rising a train of closely assembled sheet olders, means for carrying and driving said train on a course through a series of tanks, means for increasing the speed of travel of a sheet holder while it is entering a tank and leaving a tank without increasing the general speed of the train over the other sections of the course', and means for isolating a sheetholder from the train to receive or discharge sheets.

J 10. The combination of a train of sheet carriers having projecting arm members,

- sheet holders 'on said arms, means for mounting said train to travel a continuous course, means for driving the train and operating the sheet holders to hold, convey. and discharge sheet material and means for temporarily isolatinga sheet holder to load and discharge sheets.

11. In a sheet conveyer a train of sheet holders, means for carr 'ng and driving said train on a course adjacent a series of tanks whereby sheets of material carried by said holders will be submitted to the actions of the contents of said tanks, means for temporarily increasing the distance between a holder and its preceding and succeeding holders and increasing its speed of travel during the time it is entering a tank, leaving a tank and discharging a sheet.

12. In a sheet conveyer a plurality of sheet holders connected in chain like formation,.

means for carrying and driving said holders over a continuous spiral-like course and I ad acent a series of tanks whereby sheets car- -ried by the holders will be submitted to the actions of the contents of said tanks and means for. temporarily isolating a sheet holder to permit the attaching of a sheet thereto and the discharging of a, sheet therefrom.

13. A sheet conveyer comprising a plurality of closely assembled sheet holders connected in train like formation, means for carrying and driving said holders through a series of tanks, means for isolatin ,and increasing the speed of travel. of

as eet holder as "it enters a tank then reduc-- sheet holders closely assembled and mounted in train-like formation on an endless common carrier, means for driving said train over a circuitous course adjacent a series of tanks whereby sheets of material carried by said holders will be submitted to the actions of the contents of said tanks, means i for temporarily increasing the space between a sheet holder and its preceding and succeeding holders at certain oints on said course to facilitate the loa ing and discharging of sheets and to isolate a sheet carried by said holder, means for mounting said sheet holders whereby a sheet holder may be isolated from the train at an point on said course to facilitate the attac ing of a sheet or the detaching of a sheet or the examination of a sheet held therein,.means for increasing the speed of travel of a sheet holder over certain ortions of said course without increasing t e general speed of the train over other portions of the course, means for controllm the relative lengths of time that a sheet older remains in the different tanks of the series, means whereby the sheets in said holders may be maintained in either a horizontal, perpendicular or oblique position, means to dischar e the sheets from the holders and means or effecting the continuous successive travel and operation of the sheet holders over the said course to convey sheet material.

15. A sheet holder comprising a train of sheet holders, a course for said train having both strai ht and arcular sections adjacent a series 0 tanks, means for operatin the train over said course so as to carry s eets held in said holders toward and through the tanks'and from one tank to another, an

arcular section of said course adjacent the entrance of a tank to facilitate of a sheet to the tank.

16. The combination of an endless 'conveyer having a train of closel assembled sheet carriers projecting lateral y therefrom and pivotally mounted thereon so as to have arcuate movement about said conveyer the delivery whereby a carrier may be temporarily isolated from the train, sheet grippers on said carriers, and means for driving the conveyer and operating the grippers to continuousl and successively receive, convey and disc arge sheet material.

17. In a machine of the character described, an automatic means for isolating and conveying the sheets to be treated toward and immersing them in a treating 'so- 5 lution, then transferring them successlvely to and from other solutions for further treatment including lastly a washing bath,

then draining the washing bath from the sheets, and then discharging the sheets from the machine, and driving mechanism for 10 effecting the several operations continuously and successively. j

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ARTHUR J. FREEMAN. 

